The hunt for a paranoid and armed militiaman moved into its fourth day today.

With no sign of expert survivalist David Burgert, 47, police painted a
picture of a well-armed 'bully' who became convinced a decade ago that
authorities were out to get him.

Burgert is being sought for attempted homicide and probation violations after authorities say he fired a handgun at two Missoula County sheriff's deputies during a confrontation Sunday about 25 miles west of Missoula.

Search mission: FBI agents in a helicopter join the manhunt for former militia leader David Burgert in northwest Montana

Gunfire exchanged: David Earl Burgert, a member of the Kingswood militia group, pictured after an arrest in February 2002

U.S. agents are still combing a 30sq mile
block of dense forest in Montana after a shootout between the 'armed and
extremely dangerous' former Marine and sheriff's deputies.

Burgert exchanged gunfire with Missoula County officers along a
logging trail on Sunday following a slow-speed car chase.

No
one was hurt in the gun battle, but Burgert, who had been travelling in
a jeep, was able to escape into the woods on foot, in scenes
reminiscent of the film First Blood.

Police fear the scenario could now play
out like the Sylvester Stallone film action film in which Vietnam veteran John Rambo falls foul of local law enforcement and leads them on a pursuit through rugged mountain terrain.

The incident began when police responded to a report that the driver of a Jeep Cherokee was travelling erratically at a rest stop near Lolo, about ten miles southwest of Missoula.

Officers pursued the former Marine for 30 miles before he spun onto a side road near a trailhead. Burgert allegedly responded to commands that he surrender by shooting at deputies before disappearing into the forest.

'He is armed and extremely dangerous - he's a danger to anyone he meets,' Missoula County Undersheriff Mike Dominick said.

Burgert is the former leader of a
Montana militia group known as Project 7 which allegedly plotted to
assassinate local officials, go to war with the National Guard and
overthrow the federal government.

Authorities have been contacting Burgert's former associates in case he attempts to return to Kalispell, his former home, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.

'I could best describe him as a bully,' Curry said. 'He's one of those people you're constantly dealing with - confrontations with law enforcement, confrontations with neighbours.'

Former neighbor Robert Bray, of Kalispell, recalled regular gatherings of men at Burgert's house in the years leading up to his arrest.

Bray said he knew nothing of any militia activity, but he harbored a dislike for Burgert because of what Bray described as his confrontational demeanor.

'He's just really forward and aggressive, and he comes at you,' Bray said. 'I just didn't like him.'

He was first arrested in 2002 following a similar standoff with police in which he armed himself with a machine gun.

Hunt: Missoula County sheriff's deputies sweep a rental cabin at the Lumberjack Saloon west of Lolo in the hunt for ex-Marine David Burgert

In
2004 he was sentenced to ten years in prison for a string of firearms
offences, including conspiracy to possess illegal firearms, possession
of a machine gun and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Search area: A massive search for Burgert has been launched in a stretch of forest in central Montana

Federal prosecutors argued he led a group that amassed machine guns and explosives. He was also diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder.

Last week, Burgert was stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol for a minor traffic offence. According to officials, he told patrolmen 'he wasn't going to be taken down like last time' and that 'it would take a SWAT team' to bring him in.

Officers believe that the current
incident was planned by Burgert. A stash of weapons and ammunition was
found in and around his abandoned jeep and police suspect the survival
specialist may have hidden a second SUV deep in the forest.

'He was prepared for a confrontation,' Undersherriff Dominick said.

'It was not a high-speed chase, he drove purposely onto the logging road and he engaged the deputies with one to three shots.'

More than 60 officers are now involved in the search, assisted by a National Guard helicopter and a police dog team.

In the Stallone movie, Rambo is also chased by a helicopter but is able to escape before being pursued into an abandoned mine, where he is cornered by the National Guard.

He escapes from the mine and eventually surrenders after a stand-off back in town.

In the film First Blood, Vietnam veteran John Rambo leads the authoritis on a chase through rugged forest